Residents Get Together To Address Rise In Violence

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Dozens poured into a school cafeteria Thursday evening in New Haven, concerned about what’s pouring out onto the streets of their neighborhood. A shooting Sunday night on Whalley Avenue in New Haven prompted community leaders to set up a meeting to discuss violence in the Westville area of town.

“There’s been a lot of robberies that have taken place at local businesses,” said Alderwoman Angela Russell. “There have been some incidents that have happened within the park.”
“It’s getting scary. It’s not something that I’m used too,” said Mary Guglielmo.

Together with police presence, Ward 27 neighbors sat and talked and at times demanded answers from police about their safety.

“There should be a cop outside each one of these hotspots just a policeman sitting there,” said Guglielmo.

Sgt. Renee Forte with New Haven Police admitted there is a lack of police presence right now. Forte said they are running about 126 officers short. Despite that shortage the department said they city is down 10 percent in robberies and 25 percent in burglaries.

“We have some bicycle beats out there. We’re trying to be active and proactive and have
the community see us, more police presence,” said Sgt. Renee Forte.

“We need to come together to find concrete solutions on how to keep our neighborhood safe,” said Alderwoman Russell.

Some argued for a buddy system, others advocated for more officers, all good ideas for now until something more permanent can be put into place. More of these meetings will take place in the future.

The 19-year-old victim from Sunday’s shooting has been released from the hospital.